Former and current National Intelligence Service employees were convicted in the first trial of illegally wiretapping civilians while collecting information related to a underground revolutionary organization, but their verdict was changed to not guilty in the second trial.
The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 6-1, presided over by Director General Jeong Jae-o, Choi Eun-jeong, and Lee Ye-seul, overturned the first trial ruling that sentenced four former and current National Intelligence Service employees, including A (46), to probationary imprisonment for violating the Communications Privacy Protection Act on the 12th and declared them not guilty.
The court noted, "The most critical and only evidence of this case, the testimony of the informant, cannot be considered sufficient evidence to confidently affirm the charge without reasonable doubt."
It continued, "The informant was inconsistent regarding the time and place of text messages sent to the defendants, lacking specificity," adding that, "In light of this situation, it can be concluded that the informant made false or exaggerated statements to the investigation agency."
The court also stated, "The internal report claimed by the prosecution as key evidence also has issues in being admissible as evidence," noting that although the report expressed, 'Let's proceed anyway,' it cannot be conclusively interpreted as indicating that a conversation would be recorded.
This case arose while A and others were collecting information related to an underground revolutionary organization through an informant from a student organization at a university during the Park Geun-hye administration.
According to the prosecution, A and others obtained information in August 2015 through the informant that a 'general meeting' of the underground revolutionary organization would take place. They allegedly installed secret recording devices shaped like fire extinguishers inside a campsite in Chungnam, the location of the meeting, to secretly record the conversations of the participants.
A and others claimed that they only installed the recording device at the informant's voluntary consent and did not lead the recording. They also stated that since their intention was to only record conversations involving the informant, the violation of the Communications Privacy Protection Act does not apply.
In response, the first trial ruled, "Considering the field activity plans written by the defendants at the time and the evidential capacity of reports related to the recorded files, it appears that the production and installation of the secret recording device and the execution of the recording were predominantly planned internally by the National Intelligence Service." It then sentenced A to 10 months in prison with a 1-year probation and a 1-year disqualification. The other three co-defendants received sentences of 6 months in prison with 1-year probation and 1-year disqualification each.